Toy Maker: A New 3D Printing App for Kids (And Inspiration for Developers)

AstroPrint is on a roll. They’re announcing the release of another app today that does two things for 3D printing. Toy Maker is a free app that 1) introduces kids to the world of 3D printing and 2) introduces developers to the capabilities of AstroPrint’s Cloud platform.

Toy Maker

On the surface, the Toy Maker app is simple – Pick a toy, print it out. Toys currently range from single piece characters multi-piece puzzles. After you choose a toy, it will be waiting in your AstroPrint Cloud account. Then you simply print it on your AstroPrint connected 3D printer. Currently, there are over 170 toys available, some free and others available for purchase. The Toy Maker app is available for download on the iOS App Store and Google Play.

There’s no toy modeling or customization here. It’s simply a way to find and print models already created and added to the platform. We’d like to see some toy creation/customization (there’s a severe lack of 3D printed robot creation out there at the moment), along with 3D viewing and a way to submit free/paid 3D prints, privately or publically.

So… you can imagine how it could be extended, or how other apps could be developed using the AstroPrint API to…

Reach 3D Printer Owners

Toy Maker also serves as a proof of concept to developers for AstroPrint’s cloud platform demonstrating how content can be delivered to 3D printer owners. AstroPrint is building out a content distribution platform as much as it has built out software for simplifying 3D printing.

When you think about how the two compliment each other, there’s quite a bit the AstroPrint Cloud platform is bringing to 3D printing – a platform that bridges the 3D printer with cloud-connected software that can be extended through an API to make 3D printing more accessible to everyone.

Download the app and tell us what you think. And definitely, let us know when you develop and release that robot creation app.

Josh is founder and editor at SolidSmack.com, founder at Aimsift Inc., and co-founder of EvD Media. He is involved in engineering, design, visualization, the technology making it happen, and the content developed around it. He is a SolidWorks Certified Professional and excels at falling awkwardly.